Ender's Game

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Transcript of Ender's Game

photo credit Nasa / Goddard Space Flight Center / Reto Stöckli by Orson Scott Card Ender's Game Ender's Game can be compared to Edgar Allen Poe's 'Sphinx'. In Poe's story, the man is incapable of seeing things in perspective when he sees the moth, but Ender is forced from seeing things in perspective when he's in 'Command School'. They are both kept from seeing the big picture. Connections Ender never wanted to kill anybody, but when he needed to, he had the ability to be more violent than his personality indicates when he has the need. "The Mystery Within" Symbolism Ender Wiggen starts out the book as the third child (families were usually only allowed two) in the Wiggen family. The government saw promise in the Wiggen family, but Peter and Valentine didn't cut it, so they allowed them to have Ender, the third. After a test (having his moniter removed and being forced to face things without protection), he is suddenly shipped off to battle school and trained to become a fighter. Eventually he is forced into 'command school', where he unknowingly does the real battles and the real war, and defeats the Buggers without knowing it until afterwards. The Protagonist Ender's Game is full of allusions. On page 128, Peter an allusion in itself: The author is comparing Peter and Andrew (Ender's real name) to St. Peter and his brother St. Andrew explains his plan to take over the world to Valentine, making several references to great leaders in history such as Alexander, Hitler, and Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, and John Lenin, thus trying to persuade her to help him on his plans. Allusions Ender's life and education all started out as a game.The computer mind game, the battle games, the strategy games, until it isn't a game anymore when he actually defeats the buggers (even if he doesn't recognize it). This relates to real life in the way of our school and education system. Like Ender's games, we practice and practice and build life skills and practice more until we actually use them in real life and it's not practice anymore. Theme Bugger. The humans called the 'hostile' aliens 'buggers'. I never really understood why. Diction Unfortunately, the image of the squirrels Peter tortured. It was really disturbing and vivid. Imagery When Peter and Valentine activate their plan to take overthe world, they go under the net aliases of 'Demosthenes' (an Athenian orate and political intellectual) and 'Locke' (John Locke, an English philosopher, physician, one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers, and 'the Father of Classical Liberalism'. I would compare Ender Wiggen to Frodo Baggins in theway both of their stories panned out. At first, both characters had to do something dangerous, but once they got to a point where they didn't have to go anymore, (go to next slide now) they were forced back, and then into doing something they never should have had to do. For Ender it was the lake when he thought he could stay home, for Frodo it was Rivendel when he thought he could give the ring to the Elves The Battle Room was a really interesting image, and I still don't totally get the way he describes the gravity thing, but its really interesting, and the way the battle room looks and feels is just really interesting to me. Ender's mind game. It was intriguing to see what scenarios it put him through and imagine what they might be like. They started out normal, but then the would get weirder and weirder and more personal for Ender, and I always wonder what that was like to see. Launchie. Nothing really special about it, I just like it, and sometimes I'll randomly call people launchies... Game. All of Ender's life had consisted of games that were never actually games. Salaam. Alai told Ender this when he was shipped to a new army, and then revealed it to mean 'peace'. It's a bit ironic, even Alai says they would never acheive it, or somthing like that. Gravity. Ender caught on quickly that gravity changed, what they once knew as gravity was not anymore. The others struggled with it, but according to Ender, the enemy's gate was always down. The mind game, and the giant. Huge symbol. 'The giant's game' usually is referring to an obsticle that can't be beaten, but Ender did. Not only in the mind game and in the Battle School, but in real life when Ender defeats the Buggers (even without his awareness), it's considered impossible, and Ender overcomes it anyway. Like the giants game.